Actor Gordon Thomson, who is best known
for playing Adam Carrington on ABC's prime-time soap opera Dynasty,
has publicly come out gay at 72.
Thomson told The Daily Beast's
Tim Teeman that he assumed people knew about his sexuality.
“It’s not something I’ve ever
announced,” Thomson
said. “I’m assuming that people know, and now that I’m my
age that’s fine. I don’t go out of my way because it’s my
generation, I think. I’m probably as homophobic as any gay man
alive because of my background.”
The Canadian actor explained that he
kept closeted because of his generation's attitude toward sexual
minorities.
“When I was growing up it
[homosexuality] was a crime, and then classified as a mental illness.
It was not until Pierre Trudeau was prime minister of Canada when I
was 23, 24 years old, did it cease being a crime, and it was not
until I was nearly 30 that it stopped being classified as a mental
illness in the U.S. So you’re dealing with that. And the shame, the
breathtaking lack of self-esteem, has only just begun to seep out of
my soul,” Thomson said.